JPH0511603A - Developing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely hold a developing unit and to make the developing unit small in size and inexpensive by providing a a handle which an operator's finger can operate on the rib of the developing unit for guiding a paper. CONSTITUTION:A paper sent from a paper supply cassette is carried in the ribs 16 of the developing unit 15 for guiding the paper through a carrying path. The ribs 16 are provided left and right on the outer circumferential surface of a toner cartridge 45 in parralel and successively by leaving spaces. In such a case, notched parts 46 and 47 used as the handle are provided on the rib at the left and right outermost ends among the ribs 16 by leaving a part with which the paper is brought into contact at the front part and the upper part. Therefore, the unit 15 can be pulled out, inserted and carried while being surely held by inserting the operator's fingers of both hands in the notched parts 46 and 47. Besides, it is preferable that a flange which makes the thickness of the circumferential edges of the notched part 46 and 47 thick is provided on them.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a detachable developing unit used in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine or a facsimile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus that conveys a sheet from a sheet feeding cassette loaded in a lower portion of an image forming apparatus main body between a front cover of the apparatus main body and a toner cartridge, the sheet is guided. The toner cartridge is provided with a plurality of paper guide ribs. In such an image forming apparatus, in JP-A-2-219066, a finger hook portion lower than the ribs is provided between the paper guide ribs.
The user can attach and detach the toner cartridge by hooking his finger on the finger rest.

[0003]

However, according to this method, a gap must be formed between the finger-holding portion and the paper guide rib so that a finger can be inserted with a sufficient margin. There was a problem to turn. Also, when you try to replace the toner cartridge and remove it from the packing material and set it in the main body of the device,
Even if the user tries to grasp the finger-holding portion from above the toner cartridge, the finger-holding portion is lower than the paper guide rib and is provided between them, so that the finger-holding portion is difficult to grasp and may be dropped. If the finger-holding portion is raised to make it easy to grip, it protrudes into the paper conveyance path and interferes with the paper conveyance, so the height of the finger-holding portion is limited.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems by providing the paper guide rib itself with a handle that can be reliably hooked with a finger.

[0005]

That is, in the developing unit according to the present invention, the paper guide rib is provided with a notch serving as a handle, leaving a portion in contact with the paper.

[0006]

[Function] It is possible to replace the developing unit by inserting a finger into the notch of the paper guide rib and securely holding the paper guide rib.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of the entire image forming apparatus. A paper feed cassette 11 is removably loaded in the lower portion of the apparatus main body 10, and the paper in the paper feed cassette 11 is fed upward one by one by a paper feed roller 12. The fed-out sheet passes through the sheet conveying path between the sheet guiding rib 14 of the front door 13 of the apparatus main body 10 and the sheet guiding rib 16 of the developing unit 15 according to the present invention, and the roller pair 1
It is conveyed to the upper side of the belt-shaped photosensitive member 19 by 7 and the roller pair 18.

Around the photosensitive member 19, a charger 20, an optical device 21, a developing device 22 of the developing unit 15, a transfer device 2 are provided.
3, a static eliminator 24 and a cleaning device 25 are arranged, and the image formed on the photoconductor 19 by the electrophotographic process is transferred onto the paper. The paper is a fixing device 26
After the transfer image is heat-fixed by, the discharge direction is switched by the discharge direction switching guide 28 via the roller pair 27, and is discharged to the discharge tray 30 by the discharge roller pair 29, or the discharge roller pair 31 and the discharge sheet. The roller pair 32 discharges the sheet to the sheet discharge unit 33.

The front door 13 is mounted on the main body 10 of the apparatus so that the front door 13 can be opened and closed by turning around the pin 34 as a fulcrum and can be maintained in a substantially horizontal open state as shown in FIG. The developing unit 15 can be pulled out and placed on the front door 13 thus opened.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the mounting portion of the front door 13. The front door 13 is maintained in a horizontal open state by the left and right link pairs 35 and 36 provided between the front door 13 and the apparatus body 10. Reference numeral 37 is a finger hook portion provided on the left and right outer surfaces of the front door 13 for opening and closing the front door 13. Left and right slide plates 38 are provided in the apparatus body 10 so as to be slidable back and forth. In order to guide the sliding, a horizontally elongated hole 39 is provided in the slide plate 38, and a guide pin 40 fitted in the horizontally elongated hole 39 is provided on the apparatus body 10 side. The slide plate 38 and the front door 13 are connected by a vertically long hole 41 provided at the front end of the slide plate 38 and a connecting pin 42 provided on the left and right protrusions 13a of the front door 13. In addition, at the rear end of the slide plate 38, the light blocking portion 43a and the light transmitting portion 43b are provided.
A laser emission port sealing member 43 having a connecting pin 44
Are linked by. The laser emission port sealing member 43 closes the laser emission port of the optical device 21 so that toner, paper dust, etc. do not enter the optical device 21.

When the front door 13 is opened, the left and right sliders 38
Is pulled and slides forward, and the laser emission port sealing member 43 also moves forward integrally with this, and the light shielding portion 43a shields the laser light from the optical device 21. The front door 13
Although not shown in the drawing, when it is closed, the device body 1
An actuator that presses the 0-side door switch and an engaging piece that engages with the latch on the apparatus body 10 side are provided.

FIG. 4 shows the developing unit 15. A plurality of paper guide ribs 16 of the developing unit 15 are provided in parallel on the outer peripheral surface of the toner cartridge 45 with a space left and right, and continuously over the front surface and the upper surface of the toner cartridge 45, respectively. The left and right outermost ribs of the paper guide ribs 16 are provided with notches 46 and 47 serving as handles in the front portion and the upper portion of the ribs 16 except for the portion where the paper contacts. Further, on the bottom surface of the toner cartridge 45, left and right long grooves 48 are provided outside the left and right outermost sheet guide ribs 16.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the long groove 4 is formed on the base plate 49 which supports the developing unit 15 in the apparatus main body 10.
8 is provided with left and right rails 50 slidably fitted with
Further, on the inner surface of the front door 13, left and right extension rails 51 which are slidably fitted in the long grooves 48 are also provided.
The extension rail 51 has a protrusion 51a at the tip which serves as a stopper. Since the left and right extension rails 51 are provided at positions facing the left and right long grooves 48 of the developing unit 15,
Even if the front door 13 is closed, it does not interfere with the paper guide rib 16 of the developing unit 15. Further, when the front door 13 is opened to the horizontal state, the extension rail 51 has substantially the same height as the rail 50 of the base plate 49 as shown in FIG. The paper guide rib 14 is lower than this. The extension rails 51 and the paper guide ribs 14 are made of resin, and the number of parts can be reduced if they are integrally provided on the front door 13.

Accordingly, after the front door 13 is opened as shown in FIG. 3, if the developing unit 15 is pulled forward, the developing unit 15 is pulled out along the rail 50 of the base plate 49 onto the front door 13, The long groove 48 fits from the rail 50 of the base plate 49 to the extension rail 51 of the front door 13. The developing unit 15 is provided with the protrusion 51a along the extension rail 51.
It can be pulled out to the place where it abuts. Since the left and right outermost sheet guide ribs 16 of the developing unit 15 are provided with notches 46 and 47, the notches 46 are provided.
Alternatively, the developing unit 15 can be inserted / removed and carried while the fingers of both hands are put into 47 and securely grasped.

When the developing unit 15 is set in the apparatus body 10, the left and right ends of the shaft 53 of the developing roller 52 are fixed in the apparatus body 10 as shown in FIG. Push it along the left and right rails 50 until it fits with 54. As a result, the developing unit 15 is positioned in the front-rear direction. Developing unit 15
The left and right positions of the rails are the long groove 48 and the rail 50 on the bottom surface.
Depends on Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, a play is formed in the width direction between the left long groove 48 and the rail 50. A locking mechanism (not shown) is provided between the developing unit 15 and the apparatus main body 10 in order to lock the developing unit 15 set in the apparatus main body 10 as described above.

7 and 8 show a developing unit of another example of the present invention, in which the paper guide rib 16 is provided only on the front surface of the toner cartridge 45, and the upper side of the toner cartridge 45 is provided with a separate paper guide. The sheet is guided by the plate 55. The paper guide plate 55 also serves as a stay member of the apparatus main body 10 and supports one side of the roller pair 17.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, if a flange 56 for increasing the wall thickness is integrally provided at the peripheral edge of the cutout portion 46 (or the cutout portion 47) of the paper guide rib 16, the cutout portion 46 is formed. It is possible to prevent the strength of the rib 16 from being reduced due to the provision of the ridge, and it is possible to reduce the pain of the finger when gripping.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the rib 16 provided with the notch 46 (or further notch 47).
May be provided on the left and right end portions of the toner cartridge 45 in close proximity to each other. Also in this case, it is possible to reduce the pain of the finger when gripping it, and to reduce the weight load per rib when gripping and prevent the damage.

[0019]

The effects of each claim of the present invention are as follows. (Claim 1) Since the paper guide rib is provided with a notch portion to be a handle while leaving a portion in contact with the paper, the paper guide rib can be reliably gripped as compared with the conventional case in which a finger hook portion is provided between the paper guide ribs. At the same time, it is possible to reduce the size and is advantageous in terms of cost.

(Claim 2) Since the paper guide rib is continuously provided on the upper side and the cutout is also provided on the upper side, a special paper guide is not required on the upper side, which is more cost effective. At the same time, it is convenient to carry the developing unit.

(Claim 3) Since the cutouts are provided in the left and right outermost paper guide ribs, the gripping is easy and the molding is also easy.

(Claim 4) Since the flange for increasing the wall thickness is provided around the notch, it is possible to prevent the strength of the rib from being lowered due to the provision of the notch and to prevent finger pain when gripping. Can be reduced.

(Claim 5) Since a plurality of paper guide ribs provided with notches are provided on both left and right sides in proximity to each other, it is possible to reduce finger pain when gripping, and one rib when gripping. The weight load per hit can be reduced to prevent damage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an entire image forming apparatus in which a developing unit according to the present invention is set.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a state in which a developing unit is pulled out in the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a mounting portion of the image forming apparatus with a front door opened.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an example of a developing unit according to the present invention.

5 is a cross-sectional view showing the relationship between the extension rail of the front door and the rail of the base plate supporting the developing unit in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a state in which the developing unit is pulled out onto the opened front door.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another example of the developing unit.

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing a relationship between the developing unit and a sheet guide plate.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an example in which a flange is provided in a cutout portion of a paper guide rib.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the same.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a part of an example in which a plurality of paper guide ribs provided with cutout portions are provided close to each other.

FIG. 12 is a front view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

15 Development unit 16 Rib for paper guide 46 notch 47 notch 56 flange

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] February 6, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All drawings

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 5]

[Figure 9]

[Figure 10]

[Fig. 12]

[Figure 1]

[Fig. 2]

[Figure 3]

[Figure 4]

[Figure 6]

[Figure 7]

[Figure 8]

FIG. 11

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A developing unit having a paper guide rib on the outer periphery thereof, wherein the paper guide rib is provided with a cutout portion serving as a handle, leaving a portion in contact with the paper. 2. The paper guide rib is continuously provided from an upper portion of the outer periphery to a side portion, and the cutout portion is provided at an upper portion and a side portion of the rib. The described developing unit. 3. The developing unit according to claim 1, wherein the cutout portion is provided on a paper guide rib located on the outermost left and right sides. 4. The developing unit according to claim 1, wherein a flange for increasing a wall thickness is provided on a peripheral edge of the cutout portion. 5. The developing unit according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of paper guide ribs provided with the cutouts are provided adjacent to each other on both left and right sides.